Caught in the Act (The Davenports)

by Law, Kim

  If she didn’t, there was nothing for them. He would have to accept that.

  “I can’t say that I’ve thought about moving,” she began, “but I have hired an associate director. I’ve been training her to run the foundation.”

  That gave him hope. “Yeah?”

  Exactly the type of thing he wanted to hear.

  “I haven’t decided to quit, but I would like to be out. I’m just not sure what else I want to do.”

  He opened his hands and spread them wide on her back. Then he held his breath. It was time to make his move.

  “You could move to Maine?” he suggested softly. “You and your kids. You could be here with me.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CAT’S IMMEDIATE RESPONSE was silence.

  Brody watched her. His hands still on her back, his arms wrapped around her body.

  Worry crept into his eyes.

  He wanted her to move there? What did that mean? Did it mean he wanted even more?

  But he hadn’t even met her kids. She hadn’t told him about Annabelle.

  Panic began to churn. She had to tell him. Now. Before she talked to Patricia.

  “I—”

  Her words cut off at the sound of feet thundering down the hallway. The feet were joined by childish squeals. She and Brody both stared at the door, then he swung back to her.

  “Your kids?”

  “You have to go.” They spoke at the same time.

  She ran and locked the door, and he went into action. His shirt was in his hands within seconds, along with an empty condom wrapper and his shoes. She looked at the balcony. Then at her closet. Then her bathroom. She couldn’t make him jump off the balcony.

  “Mom?” Becca shouted from somewhere down the hallway. “We’re here. We left before the sun came up ’cause we was in such a hurry to see you.”

  “Oh, God.” She couldn’t let her children catch her in her bedroom with a man.

  “I’ll got out the balcony,” he said. “It’s the way I came in.” He kissed her, and then he went over the balustrade.

  Cat winced when she heard him land in the shrubbery.

  “Mommy!” Tyler yelled, his voice panicky. Her doorknob rattled. “Where are you?”

  “I’m right here, sweetheart. Just a minute.”

  Another set of footsteps joined her kids’ in the hall as Cat hurried to close the balcony doors, doing one last sweep of the room. She crossed the plush carpet, stopping only long enough to snatch up the other two condom wrappers and throw the cover over the rumpled sheets. The fallen picture and crashed lamp would have to wait. Then she rubbed at her eyes as if she’d just woken up, and opened the door on a yawn.

  “What are you guys doing here so early?” she scratched out.

  “Mom!” Both kids threw themselves at her. “We missed you.”

  Cat chuckled. “I missed you, too.”

  And Brody wanted her to move there.

  She stooped to take her kids in her arms.

  “We couldn’t wait another minute to see you,” Becca exclaimed in her typical dramatic fashion. “And then we got here and we couldn’t find you.”

  “My babies.” Cat hugged them even tighter. Her chest ached at the fear of telling Brody about their daughter, while at the same time it flourished in her other children’s love. She’d needed them this week.

  Vega reached the kids while Cat was still holding them close. She stood slightly behind them, looking an unhealthy shade of gorgeous for such an ungodly hour of the morning.

  Vega had been a model in a past life. She was five ten, had long curly hair and dark eyes to match. No matter how good Cat might look, standing next to Vega always made it clear that they weren’t even on the same playing field.

  But beauty aside, Vega was the best sister-in-law a woman could want.

  She was also astute.

  Her knowing gaze skipped past Cat to take in the room. She paused on the far wall where Cat knew the lamp was lying on the floor, before finishing her sweep. She ended by taking in Cat’s tightly clenched fist.

  A teasing smile lifted Vega’s cheeks.

  “I’m sorry.” Cat grimaced. She was embarrassed at being caught. Becca took the words as meant for her.

  “It’s okay, Mommy. We found you now.” Becca pulled out of the embrace and patted her mom’s cheek with pure sweetness. Tyler merely slung an arm around Cat’s neck and held on.

  “We missed you lots,” Tyler announced. “I don’t wanna miss you that much again.”

  Cat laughed and pulled her kids to her once more. “I don’t either,” she declared. “Never, never, never.”

  The kids giggled, and Vega reached to take their hands. “Come on, kids. How about we wait downstairs while your mother gets cleaned up? I heard something about breakfast being cooked.”

  Cat shot her sister-in-law a look of thanks, but both kids immediately squeezed in tighter to their mother. At their pouty little faces, Cat couldn’t make them leave. “I’ve got them,” she said. “They can watch TV in my bed while I take a shower.”

  “You’re sure?” Vega glanced once more into the room as if worried there might be a man hiding under the bed.

  “Positive.” Cat motioned with her head to the balcony doors.

  Vega lifted a brow. “Impressive,” she murmured. Then she shot Cat a wink and headed back down the hall. Her five-inch heels made her look like a goddess and forced Cat to glance down at herself.

  She was rumpled, no doubt wore the air of someone who’d spent the night doing what she’d been doing, and her gown was too sexy to be worn in front of her kids.

  She grabbed a robe and stood to the side as her children entered the room. They both chattered nonstop as if it had been three weeks since she’d spoken to them, instead of seen them.

  In a brief second of silence, they heard her phone chirp out a notification.

  “Your phone is ringing, Mommy.” Tyler was so helpful.

  “I know, sweetie.” She kissed the top of his head, nuzzling her nose in his soft hair. “It’s a text message.”

  Both kids climbed on her bed as she snatched up the phone.

  Becca sat, feet tucked under her legs, and watched her mom expectantly. “Is it your boyfriend?”

  Cat gaped, and while she stood there, unable to come up with a word to say, Becca smiled sweetly. “We saw his picture at the airport. It was on the TV. He looks pretty.”

  “Yuck,” Tyler muttered. He’d found the remote and had the TV on. “I don’t like boyfriends.”

  Cat glanced at the TV. “Watch cartoons,” she told them. “That’s all.”

  She grabbed fresh blankets and pillows from the closet to tuck around the kids as Becca explained to her brother that only girls got to have boyfriends. Boys had to have girlfriends.

  Tyler ignored his sister and continued searching for the right cartoon.

  Cat looked at her phone.

  See you at the park later?

  Her heart rate sped up. Brody would meet her kids today. He wanted them to move there.

  Yes. And tonight . . . the beach house? We need to talk.

  She wondered if he’d still feel the same after they talked.

  I’ll be there.

  Cat put her phone away after Brody’s confirmation and decided her shower could wait. She and her children had things to talk about. Like boyfriends.

  Climbing into the bed with them, she scooted up to the headboard and finagled a kid to either side of her.

  “Mom,” Tyler whined. “I’m watching the turtles.” Looked like his stint of missing his mother was over. It was now all about cartoons. Cat grabbed the remote and turned off the TV. Tyler groaned.

  “I want to talk about something for a minute,” she started.

  Becca watched her earnestly, while Tyler frow
ned at the remote.

  “That man you saw on the TV at the airport this morning. He’s a friend of mine.”

  “The news said he was your boyfriend,” Tyler informed her matter-of-factly. Becca nodded in agreement.

  “Well, he is a boy. And he’s my friend.”

  “And you kissed him,” Becca said.

  Cat caught a hint of worry in her daughter’s eyes. “You saw a picture of me kissing him?”

  Both kids nodded.

  “And did that bother you?”

  “I don’t know anything about kisses,” Tyler said. “Did it bother you?”

  Cat chuckled. “No,” she said. “It didn’t bother me.”

  “Boyfriends kiss their girlfriends,” Becca explained to her brother as if she fully understood the workings of the adult relationship.

  “Yes, they do,” Cat agreed. “And yes, Brody is my boyfriend. But he’s also my friend. A good friend. I’d like you both to meet him. Would you be okay with that?”

  Becca’s blue eyes stared back at her. Tyler tilted his head in thought.

  He was the first to speak. “Will he play ball with me?”

  “I’ll bet he would.” Cat kissed him on the nose. “We’ll ask him today.”

  Tyler nodded. His gaze once again sought out the remote. “Then I can meet him.”

  “Thank you, Tyler.” Cat winked at her daughter. “How about you, kiddo? You want to meet my friend?”

  “Will he like me?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Is he going to be our new daddy?”

  Cat’s breath caught. Her daughter had been four when Joe had died, and Cat suspected her memories had faded. “No, baby. You’ll always have your daddy. He loved you. Just like we loved him.”

  “But he’s not here anymore.”

  “That’s right. And unfortunately he won’t ever be here again.”

  Tyler was watching them now. He scooted in closer and wrapped a small arm around Cat’s waist. “I don’t remember my daddy,” he said.

  “I know, baby. You were too young.”

  “But could he be our daddy?” Becca asked timidly. “I don’t know if I remember our first daddy either, and all my friends have daddies.”

  A lump stuck in Cat’s throat. It was a good question. One she’d asked herself. And the honest answer was, she wouldn’t be introducing Brody to her kids if she didn’t think he could be their daddy. But she wasn’t sure what to tell them.

  She and Brody still had things to discuss. And there was no guarantee he would forgive her.

  But if he did forgive her, if they did get past this, then Cat would have hope that he could be their daddy. He hadn’t said long term that morning, but surely that’s what he’d meant. Uprooting herself and her kids was a big deal. He would understand that. “I’m not sure,” she finally answered Becca. “But I think our hearts are big enough that we can fit all kinds of friends inside them. Don’t you?”

  There was silence before Becca asked, “How big is my heart?”

  Cat chuckled. She pulled her daughter to her and kissed the top of her head. “It’s as big as the world, baby. As big as you want it to be.”

  More silence, and Cat could visualize her serious little girl weighing the pros and cons of her decision. Finally, the grip on Cat’s heart released when Becca announced, “I think I’d like to meet your friend. And I think he’ll like me. Because I’m going to show him my new shoes.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  LATER THAT MORNING, Cat was still thinking about Brody’s suggestion as she stood with her brother and sister-in-law, greeting volunteers filing into the park. Today was the biggest day for the project so far. Sharon had lined up the majority of the townspeople to help assemble the main section of the playground. It would take a full week of hard work, but before the amphitheater opened, the playground would be ready for use.

  Emma Davenport was also there, right in the middle of all of it. She’d flown up with JP, and while it had been a shock for Cat to find her mother at the house that morning, the two had so far managed to be civil. Mostly due to not speaking to each other.

  But they were good at pretending, if nothing else. It was a family trademark.

  Cat had gathered up her family, ushering everyone to the park, while her mother had taken care of last-minute phone calls to ensure that her helping out with the family-donated park would hit papers countrywide. She wanted everyone to know that she didn’t forget where she came from—or, more precisely, where the Davenports had come from. She would prove it by pounding in the first nail at the playground.

  However, the multihundred-dollar designer suit she wore implied that pounding one nail was about all she planned to do.

  Cat winked at her brother as they both watched Becca entertain the crowd around them. She’d been going at it for several minutes, sharing stories, talking about any- and everything in her little-girl charming way, and Cat couldn’t help but laugh. If anyone in her family should be an actor, it was her mini-me.

  Becca’s blonde hair and Davenport blue eyes would get her far. Added to that, she had her daddy’s long legs instead of being short like her mama.

  Another little girl came up, the cute little dark-eyed girl that Cat remembered from the museum, and joined in with Becca’s antics. Tyler ignored them both and continued playing with the ball he’d brought with him. He had every intention of asking Brody to play ball with him. It was apparently the male test of friendship.

  Cat scanned the assembled crowd, looking for the man who occupied the largest part of her mind. He’d occupied even more since he’d told her the story about his father. It was eerily reminiscent of how her parents had treated Lexi Dougard and her son—both with the payoff and acting as if he didn’t exist. It made her think of Daniel, the innocent child mixed up in her family’s scandals, and she wondered what lasting impact this would have on him. No doubt there would be one.

  She only hoped he turned out as okay as Brody.

  She also hoped she would someday get to meet him. But she would respect his mother’s wishes for privacy. After all, not being a part of the Davenports might be the best thing for him.

  She finally found Brody in the crowd, standing with his mother and Stone on one side of him and Thomas Harrison on the other. Most likely, the fact that Thomas was in town was what had brought Cat’s mother up.

  This was Davenport country, yet the man was taking advantage of the opportunity to win national support for himself. Emma Davenport couldn’t allow that. Thomas had been photographed all over town, making it clear he was a good guy, and that he was thrilled to learn he had a big brother. He wanted to build a solid relationship with Brody. No matter what it took. He was even thinking of buying a vacation home in the area.

  Such total bull.

  Brody was right. All the games and faces were too much. People simply needed to live their lives and not try to be all things to all people. Everyone would be much happier that way.

  Brody turned his head then, and his gaze landed on Cat’s. He gave her a heated smile, and her heart sang a fluttery little song. She loved that man.

  It was all going to be all right.

  Vega snickered under her breath.

  “Shut up,” Cat muttered. Vega had no doubt witnessed Cat and Brody making eyes at each other. Her sister-in-law had asked about him several times throughout the morning, making it clear she was anxious to meet the man who’d so romantically left via the balcony when the kids had shown up.

  “Where is he?” JP asked quietly. Of course, Vega had also told JP about Cat’s indiscretions.

  “Leave it alone,” Cat whispered.

  “I want to meet this guy,” her brother said. “Make sure he’s good enough for my sister.”

  “You want to embarrass me, and we both know it.”

  JP’s chiseled face sof
tened to a grin. “I don’t get a lot of opportunities for that, Shortie. A guy has to take them when he can.”

  “There are far too many cameras out here today to take that particular opportunity, so behave yourself.”

  Sharon stepped to the microphone at the front of the crowd, thanking everyone for coming out. She began introducing the crew who’d been hired to oversee the project and explaining how each person would take smaller groups of people to work on different sections of the playground. She was hopeful everyone would be able to come back several times throughout the next week. It was their park, and she wanted them to be a part of it.

  Food and drink stations would be going all week, and though it would be a lot of hard work, she was confident a good time would be had by all. She also pointed out the manned kid zone, where kids would be participating in the building of the park themselves. They would be crafting flower boxes and painting artwork that would grace the area.

  Sharon had thought of it all.

  In the end, this would be a place the community could be proud of. A place they’d all created.

  The land might have been donated for the wrong reasons, but Cat was suddenly grateful it had happened. This was the type of stuff she enjoyed being a part of. Working to truly build something in people’s lives. Not merely covering her family’s butts or smiling for the media.

  Their mother stepped to the section Sharon had marked off, ready for her photo opportunity as she attached the first two boards of the playground together, and Cat felt her body wind tight.

  “What’s going on with you two?” JP asked from the corner of his mouth. “You haven’t spoken to her since we got here.”

  “She shouldn’t have come, and she knows it.”

  “Is this about Hollister? Her leaking the story?”

  She nodded. She and JP had talked about it over the phone. She’d filled her brother in on this being their mother’s antics, but she hadn’t told him about the past. Or that Cat had delivered another daughter. That was something Brody got to hear first. Then she’d share it with JP.